Walmart shoppers had to abandon their carts inside while the retail store was forced to evacuate Wednesday afternoon.

Burlington Fire Department’s Battalion Chief Nim Harris said firefighters were dispatched to the Garden Road store around 1:15 p.m. after a natural gas leak occurred in the back of the building.

Employees got a roughly 45-minute break— out in freezing temperatures, nonetheless — while they waited for fire officials and Piedmont Natural Gas workers to turn off gas to the structure and ventilate the building.

Harris said an employee operating a forklift near the loading dock bumped a gas line that went to a heater, causing a leak.

“The rotten-egg odor from natural gas did make its way into the store, but there wasn’t enough gas to create a problem,” Harris said.

Kyle Gordon, the store’s manager, said the evacuation was a “safety precaution,” and after an announcement was made that shoppers had to clear the building, employees conducted a sweep to ensure everyone was out safely.

Harris said the store had already begun evacuating by the time fire officials arrived. He said firefighters used ventilation fans and opened doors to remove the gas, though it was mainly concentrated in the back load-in area.

“The odor did make its way into the retail portion of the store, however we never detected any significant levels of gas inside,” Harris said. “It did not register on our gas meters in the retail area. The only high level of gas was in the loading dock area.”

One Walmart employee said there “weren’t that many people in the store” at the time, but that people appeared to leave their merchandise behind without any issues.

Harris said the fire department cleared the call at 2:30 p.m., and no medical issues were reported.